Iran Ready to Supply Wheat to Lebanon, Lebanese President Cites Iranian FM

President Aoun holds talks with Amirabdollahian at the Baabda presidential palace. (Dalati & Nohra)
President Aoun holds talks with Amirabdollahian at the Baabda presidential palace. (Dalati & Nohra)
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Iran Ready to Supply Wheat to Lebanon, Lebanese President Cites Iranian FM

President Aoun holds talks with Amirabdollahian at the Baabda presidential palace. (Dalati & Nohra)
President Aoun holds talks with Amirabdollahian at the Baabda presidential palace. (Dalati & Nohra)

Lebanese President Michel Aoun tweeted on Friday that Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian assured him after their meeting in Beirut that Iran was ready to support Lebanon in all fields, "most notably in the provision of wheat".

Lebanon bought the bulk of its wheat from Ukraine until Russia's invasion, and the World Bank has warned it is one of a number of developing countries that face near-term supply shortages as a result.

Seeking to diversify its supplies, Lebanon's economy minister told Reuters this week Beirut is planning a tender to import 50,000 tons of wheat from India, but the timing depends on the central bank opening the necessary credit line.

Iran itself needs to import around 8 million tons of wheat after its crop last summer was damaged by the worst drought in 50 years, Reuters reported in October.

But Western sanctions continue to make payment difficult, although food shipments are still possible, traders said.



Traffic on French High-Speed Trains Gradually Improving after Sabotage

Workers operate to reconnect the signal box to the track in its technical ducts in Vald' Yerres, near Chartres on July 26, 2024, as France's high-speed rail network was hit by an attack disrupting the transport system, hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. (AFP)
Workers operate to reconnect the signal box to the track in its technical ducts in Vald' Yerres, near Chartres on July 26, 2024, as France's high-speed rail network was hit by an attack disrupting the transport system, hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. (AFP)
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Traffic on French High-Speed Trains Gradually Improving after Sabotage

Workers operate to reconnect the signal box to the track in its technical ducts in Vald' Yerres, near Chartres on July 26, 2024, as France's high-speed rail network was hit by an attack disrupting the transport system, hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. (AFP)
Workers operate to reconnect the signal box to the track in its technical ducts in Vald' Yerres, near Chartres on July 26, 2024, as France's high-speed rail network was hit by an attack disrupting the transport system, hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. (AFP)

Traffic on France's TGV high-speed trains was gradually returning to normal on Saturday after engineers worked overnight repairing sabotaged signal stations and cables that caused travel chaos on Friday, the opening day of the Paris Olympic Games.

In Friday's pre-dawn attacks on the high-speed rail network vandals damaged infrastructure along the lines connecting Paris with cities such as Lille in the north, Bordeaux in the west and Strasbourg in the east. Another attack on the Paris-Marseille line was foiled, French rail operator SNCF said.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility.

"On the Eastern high-speed line, traffic resumed normally this morning at 6:30 a.m. while on the North, Brittany and South-West high-speed lines, 7 out of 10 trains on average will run with delays of 1 to 2 hours," SNCF said in a statement on Saturday morning.

"At this stage, traffic will remain disrupted on Sunday on the North axis and should improve on the Atlantic axis for weekend returns," it added.

SNCF reiterated that transport plans for teams competing in the Olympics would be guaranteed.